


Be My Baby

by antimorston



Series: Milestones [1]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Banter, Commitment, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Boyfriends, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Napping, Phone Calls & Telephones, Romantic Fluff, making it official, mentions of tk’s suicide attempt (near the end)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22813240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antimorston/pseuds/antimorston
Summary: After getting off shift, TK and Carlos talk on the phone, then decide to meet up to nap together. TK had something more emotional planned once he arrived, though.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes (9-1-1 Lone Star)/TK Strand
Series: Milestones [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1640611
Comments: 12
Kudos: 410





	Be My Baby

**Author's Note:**

> hi. my first 911 ls fic is gay because i’m gay and i am emotionally damaged so i’m living vicariously through tk anyways i plan to write more. pls enjoy and leave a comment if u like it because comments make me cry  
> [title is from [be my baby by the ronettes](https://youtu.be/ZV5tgZlTEkQ) because i’m a homosexual? no other excuse for listening to a 1960s girl group sorry]

Carlos rolled over in his bed, the mattress feeling too large and too empty. TK had only spent a few hours actually sleeping with him in it, and only once, but he missed it like crazy. He crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, trying to remember the way TK breathed against the back of his neck—the way his knee pressed between Carlos’s legs—the way he held Carlos with one arm under him and crossing his chest, the other carefully slung over his bare hips. He shivered, his heart almost physically _hurting_ with want- 

And his phone rang. 

Half of a moment passed when he considered not answering; fucking spam callers wouldn’t leave him alone recently, but calling him fresh off of a shift at five in the morning was a new low. He jolted up, though, when he realized that he had set a personal ringtone for TK weeks ago but just hadn’t heard it until this moment. 

“Tyler?” 

He could hear the blush on the other side. It made him miss him more and satisfied some of the desire at the same time, but they somehow didn’t even out. 

“Are you alright? Do you need me to-”

“Carlos, I’m fine, I just wanted to talk to you.” 

That made him a little scared. “What about?”

A sharp breath. “No, sorry, I didn’t mean like that. I meant I just wanted to hear you.”

Carlos melted back into his pillows. “Hold on, baby, I think I just died a little bit.”

TK laughed on the line. “I’m your ‘baby’ now?”

“I’ve gotta call you something cute that’s not ‘tiger’, don’t I?” Carlos briefly thought of TK’s ex, and reconsidered. “Unless you’d prefer something else?” 

“‘Baby’ is pretty adorable, but now I get a free pass to think of a name for you.” 

“Of course you do.” Carlos closed his eyes, wishing TK was there with him. He also wished he was in this good of a mood every day. “What are you doing right now?” 

TK hummed, and Carlos yearned to kiss him. “Just got off my shift, sitting on the roof of the firehouse.” 

“Why up there?” He closed his eyes and pictured TK, a little soot covered even though he definitely showered after his shift. His hair was ruffled, and the gentle breeze of warm, dry air tousled it around. 

“Feeling the fresh air, getting ready to watch the sunrise.” 

“Sounds nice.” Carlos rolled over again, to look out his bedroom window. The sky was lightening, but just barely. 

“It would be better if you were here.” 

Carlos chuckled a little. “Funny, right before you called, I was thinking about how I wish you were here with me.” 

“Well, where are you?”

“Just got off too. Half-asleep in my bed.” Carlos lifted his leg and tucked the blanket under it. “Sorry if this is a little forward, but I’m not even talking about you being here like _that_ , I just want you napping with me.” 

“I can’t pass on that offer.” He heard rustling on the line, and a door opening. 

“See you soon? I might already be asleep when you get here, so I’ll get up and unlock the door for you before we hang up.”

“Hey, actually, can we stay on the line until I get there? I don’t mind if you still fall asleep though.” 

It was a bit odd for TK, he wasn’t…“clingy” probably wasn’t the word for it…like _this_ usually. “Of course we can. I’ll leave it unlocked just in case, but scream at me through the phone when you get here so I can wake up and come greet you properly.”

That earned him a warm laugh. He could see TK on the other side, phone pressed between his ear and shoulder as he waved goodbye to the other firefighters. Carlos heard him bid farewell to Mateo and Paul, then the sound of his car starting. 

“Anything you want to talk about particularly? I don’t know if we’re at the ‘thirty-six straight minutes of comfortable silence’ level yet.” 

He heard a slight exhale, and a part of him thought it was annoyed before TK spoke again, and there was a smile in his voice. “Tell me exactly what you were thinking about me before I called?”

Carlos gulped. “Remember that one time when we fell asleep in my bed after sex?”

“Like three days ago? Yes, sweetheart.” 

“I like sweetheart.”

“Thanks. It rolls off of the tongue.” The sarcasm was ignored. 

Carlos smiled and tried to picture that day again. “I was just here in my bed, thinking about how empty it feels now that I’ve had you in it.” 

“I’ve been in it plenty.”

“I mean _sleeping_.” He paused. “I thought about how warm you are, and the way your breath was so gentle against my ear and neck.”

“Even when I snored?”

“You know I snore too.”

He rolled back over, hoping that TK wasn’t too distracted on the road by their conversation. But he could hear the slight crackle of the car’s Bluetooth speaker, so he knew that TK wasn’t talking directly into the phone, and that eased his mind a little. He set the picture from before back up, and started to describe it again. 

“You had one arm under me-”

TK cut him off with a sharp laugh. “Yeah, I’m surprised you didn’t make me move it. Isn’t it pokey? Uncomfortable?”

“No, it was lovely.” 

“Aw.” 

“The arm under me wrapped up across my chest, and sometimes you would move your fingers-”

“Just to feel you.”

_Stop, I might fall in love with you before we use the word “boyfriend.”_

“What else? I mean, _I_ know what I did, but I want to hear about it.” Carlos loved his voice when he flirted—and all of the time, but especially when he flirted. 

“Your other arm was on my hip, and since I was naked, you were dangerously close to getting me in the mood again.” He laughed, and TK laughed. “And your knee pressed between my legs sometimes, and you were just so _close_ to me, like we were one person.”

“Cliché.”

“It really did feel that way! You were pressed so tight against me that I could feel your chest moving when you breathed.” 

TK huffed. “I’m never going to be big spoon again.” 

“Oh, baby, it’s not a bad thing! Being pressed so tight together is nice, actually.” Carlos drew in a slow breath as he imagined TK holding him again. “How much longer do you have, by the way?” 

“‘Bout two minutes. Apparently not too much traffic at five in the morning.” 

Carlos sighed. “I can’t wait to see you.” 

“We saw each other before our shifts.”

“But you know one shift feels like days to both of us!”

TK hummed in agreement, and Carlos stretched before he lifted the blanket off of himself and started toward the front room. 

“Do you want a pair of my sweats to wear, or are you in clothes that are okay to sleep in?”

TK scoffed. “I don’t sleep in pants. My legs get too hot.” 

“Well, I’m pants only.” 

“Aw, we’ll be like puzzle pieces.”

Carlos snorted a little, twisting the deadlock and handle lock then wandering over to his couch. He sat down, glancing out the window. “You close?”

“Just parked.” 

Even though they’d been “together” for weeks and seen each other at work constantly, the idea of seeing TK in just a minute sent Carlos’s heart racing. “See you soon.”

He heard and saw the handle of his front door twist, then TK pushed the door open. Carlos jumped up to meet him, letting him set his bag on the floor and toe off his shoes before he grabbed TK’s face gently between his hands and placed a firm kiss on his mouth. 

There was no tongue, no flaming need for the kiss to lead anywhere—just a simple hello kiss. 

“Carlos,” TK whispered when they parted. 

“You look gorgeous,” Carlos answered, “and exhausted. Do you need your bag?”

“No, wh- oh!”

Carlos swept him up in his arms, cutting him off and surprising him. “Let’s go to bed.” He reached to lock the door with one hand as TK buried his face in the side of his neck, then carried him to the bedroom. 

He laid TK down carefully, standing off to the side and taking off his socks as TK stripped. He lay on the bed, wiggling out of his jeans and reaching to peel his socks off. Carlos dug into his drawer for a shirt, then dropped onto the bed. He slowly unbuttoned TK’s shirt— _Christ_ , that twink loved his button-ups—as TK stared up at him, doe-eyed. 

“Here’s a shirt for you to sleep in.”

“So we’re actually doing this?” TK smiled and leaned up to kiss him. 

“I hope so, I don’t want you to fall asleep while we’re having sex like y-”

TK squirmed, closing his eyes. “Carlos, let’s not talk about _that._ It was a low point.” 

Carlos kissed him again. “Hey, you’ve been lower. I was just messing with you.” 

TK froze, looking up at him, and Carlos paused. He cradled one side of TK’s face. 

“No, low points are okay. They’re human. You’re human, Tyler. It’s okay.” He rolled them, and pulled TK onto his chest. “Sorry for saying that. It sounded mean.”

“It’s okay,” TK mumbled, pressing his lips to Carlos’s collarbone. 

“You sure? I can keep saying sorry, because I’m going to feel bad about it for a few days at least.”

TK laughed, biting at Carlos this time instead. “Seriously. It’s not like you weren’t telling the truth.” He pulled back a little bit and ran his hands over Carlos’s bare chest. 

Carlos bit his lip and raised a hand to run through TK’s hair. 

“Anyways,” TK said, “I’ve actually got something I want to talk to you about.”

Carlos smiled, but fear struck his heart. “So you _did_ call me for a reason?”

“No, but yes, but no.” 

“That’s confusing.”

“And you need to let me explain.” TK rolled off of Carlos, then shifted onto his side so he was facing him. Carlos shifted too, and TK smiled warmly. 

The smile melted some of the fear, and the rest dissipated when TK’s leg hooked onto Carlos’s own and one hand rested on Carlos’s hip. 

“I know things have been complicated between us, and I know all of it is because of me-”

“Hold on, I’m sorry to stop you so soon, but you can’t put blame on yourself. Tyler, just before we met, you attempted suicide. Of course you’re going to be a little slow to jump into something serious. Don’t blame yourself.” He touched TK’s cheek, then nodded. “I won’t interrupt again. Go on.”

“As I was saying; complicated, me; and as you were saying; suicide attempt. I thought things were serious between Alex and I, but he never even _looked_ at me the way you do. I guess I don’t know what I was to him, but he’s in my past now, and I know I’m still going to be working through what happened, but I think I’m ready to make what you and I have a little less complicated. And I called to psych myself up to do it, because I knew I would just need to hear your voice, and I was going to do it the next time we saw each other, but then you invited me over. So, I gathered up my balls and talked to you the whole way here because I knew that once I saw your face, I was going to be asking you.” His eyebrows were all scrunched up, and he leaned in to offer Carlos a kiss. “And here I go. Do you want to keep doing exactly what we’re doing, except with more serious implications? Will you be my exclusive, caring, public boyfriend, Carlos Reyes?” 

Carlos grinned and lunged forward eagerly, kissing TK between every utterance of the word “yes” from his lips. 

When he had finally calmed down a bit, he untangled himself from TK and placed a hand on the side of his neck. 

“Does your dad know about us?”

“Ew, way to ruin the mood. But yes, Michelle told him.” TK smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Damn it, Michelle.” 

“Yeah, damn it, Michelle.”

They laughed, and then TK yawned. It was almost six now, but Carlos didn’t have to work until midnight. The shifts they put the first responders on were getting weirder and weirder after the tornadoes, so he didn’t question it. 

“What are you thinking about, _boyfriend_?”

Carlos laughed. “Just about how my next shift is at midnight. When’s yours?”

“Starts at six tomorrow morning, but it’s a twenty-four.” 

Carlos whistled. “You’ll definitely need to get some sleep, then. You only have twenty-four hours left until then, and I’m going to cook you a midnight dinner before I go.” He pulled TK in, kissed his forehead, and leaned back far enough that his face was in focus. “You can stay here until you have to leave for your shift, or until you have to leave to get ready for your shift. If you want.” 

TK didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. 

“I’m assuming it’s too early to give you a key, but you can have one, if you want it. You know, if you ever need to come over, then I won’t have to unlock for you. And you can come over when I’m not home.” 

TK opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then closed it. He reached out to run his thumb along Carlos’s cheekbone, and smiled weakly. “You trust me enough for that?”

“Tyler, you recognize that you were—and maybe still are—in a messed up place emotionally. You had the courage to put a label on us, even though you’re still working on getting through your pain, you’re in AA, you’re taking care of yourself, and you know I care about you.” He tilted his head into TK’s touch. “I trust you. And I’m here for you.” 

“I don’t know if I need a key yet,” TK said after a long time. 

“That’s alright. The offer stands, though, whenever you want it.” Carlos covered TK’s hand on his cheek with his own, and took a slow breath. “Now, come here so we can sleep the day away. Do you want to be big or little spoon?”

“Little, please.” 

“Of course, baby. Come here.” 

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is [here](https://bikerfaggot.tumblr.com) :3 please talk to me about carlos  
> also, i would like to repeat, please make me cry via comment


End file.
